**New A/Chief Executive Officer to lead Batelco Group**

Batelco Group (Ticker: BATELCO), the international telecommunications Group with operations across 14 countries, has announced a change in its Group leadership. Batelco Chairman, Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa has announced that Batelco Group CEO, Mr. Alan Whelan is leaving the Group and Mr. Ihab Hinnawi, who holds the role of CEO at Batelco’s sister company Umniah, will be appointed as the Group’s Acting Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Hinnawi joined Umniah as Chief Executive Officer in 2009, drawing on over 20 years of extensive managerial experience to lead the company’s industry-pioneering operations. Prior to assuming the CEO role at Umniah, Mr. Hinnawi held the role of General Manager Enterprise Division at Batelco Bahrain and subsequently the role of CEO at Batelco Jordan. In 2004 Mr. Hinnawi helped to establish Umniah as a key member of its initial management team, and continued to work as the Operations Director of Umniah until 2007.

Shaikh Hamad and the Board of Directors extended thanks to Mr. Whelan for his efforts and wished him well in his future endeavours. Furthermore, Shaikh Hamad said that on behalf of the Board of Directors and executive management at Batelco, he would like to wish Mr. Hinnawi well as he takes on the challenging role at the helm of the Batelco Group.